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Sunday, March 26, 2017

A hometown wedding!

A hometown wedding. This is a
magical statement which raises the adrenaline levels in most Indians by a
hundred folds or so. For me, it surely was exciting to prepare for and attend a
relative’s wedding- shopping, dressing, socializing, making merry and the like.
But the excitement to visit my hometown Surat wasn’t as much as it should
have been.

Reasons could be as under-

1. Surat is geographically so close to
Mumbai that I consider it less of a hometown and more of a backyard

2. Despite this clear advantage, I have visited
Surat less than 5 times for durations less than 10 days (very unlike a typical
Indian hometown vacation)

3. Being a Mumbaikar, I carried the false perception
that if you’re a Mumbai loyalist, you cannot like or appreciate any other
city.

So now, when I did backpack and
set out for this “hometown” wedding, I didn’t quite anticipate just how much was in
store.

Gujarat in a train

All aboard the Gujju Mail

Starting right from the train
that we boarded at Mumbai Central, there was a constant chatter among the
travellers, a chatter much too familiar to any Gujarati in India, a chatter in
Gujarati about Gujaratis going to Gujarat! There was an excitement in the air,
even though most of our co-passengers were regular travelers on the route.

After the departure, a stream of
vendors poured in, and as one would expect, the foods sold like hot tea
(considering we’re talking about Indians here!).

With each approaching station, the Gujarati herd
behaviour became stronger and bolder. The few non-participants, like my parents
and me, gave our implicit nod to this mass behaviour by occasionally chuckling at jokes or smiling upon hearing a funny word.

Surat sunna nu murat

For those of you who don’t
understand Gujarati, the above title means Surat is a land of gold (figuratively). Surat was a thriving, bustling and congested harbour
port and city, before Mumbai beat it to become the biggest metropolis of
western India.

The older parts of Surat resemble
parts of South Central Mumbai, where buildings are right next to each other
sans compounds or front gardens. All building gates open up at the narrow
streets, which are now bearing the weight of not just pedestrians but also two
wheelers and four wheelers. Though, the newly developed areas, where I haven’t yet been,
are said to be quite posh!

Zampa (pronounced as Jhaapa)
Bazaar area in old Surat is a popular neighbourhood among the Bohris. That’s where a Bohri finds
everything a Bohri needs- accommodation, Mosque, Durgah, clothes, accessories
and FOOD!

Since we were attending a family
wedding, arrangements were made for our stay. But my family decided on staying
a bit longer in the community accommodations called Musafirkhana. The beauty of
this Musafirkhana lies in its colour.

Pretense Jodhpur

The Blues!

I was excited about the Musafirkhana since it was styled
like a haveli (and which Gujarati doesn’t fancy a haveli?).

The location of the accommodation is also pretty cool. It
would take an average Mumbaikar 30 seconds to walk from home to the epicentre of zampa market, where one finds groceries, a chemist, fancy laces, ice apple juice
(neera), marinated chicken by the day and tandoori farcha by the night,
delectable faloodas, ice creams and confectioneries and other such trivial
knick knacks.

Flaunting Clothes

Come Wedding and it’s almost like the entire neighbourhood
is packed into the function venue.

Culturally, since we are the jalsa people, everyone is excited to be
a part of the celebration. A stream of ornate men and women enter the hall. Family
members extend their hand in serving food to the guests. The environment is
pretty festive. The men and women are seated separately, so my narration of the
wedding will predominantly be about the goings on in the women’s section of the
venue.

Guests clicked photos of the bride and her intricate
clothes. People chatted with each other like they knew everyone (in most cases,
they DID know everyone). The food was served and everyone whispered their critique
of it in each other’s ears. People hung around for a bit and left, only to
return for the next function in a couple hours.

As a family member, I had to be dressed well and
presentably for the wedding functions. With the right attire and a dash of
light makeup (really?), here is how I looked:

Day 1

Day 2

Sunset at Tapi

On the insistence of my dear mother,
we stepped into the ‘other’ Surat, which is raved and praised by the locals. Tapi
Nadi (river) area is where once, many years ago, we holidayed and enjoyed the
view of the gushing waters. Now, many years later, when we revisited the site,
the river water had receded exceptionally.

However, the sunset
by the nadi was still breathtaking.

Birds
camp on the exposed river bed

We walked across the waterfront bridge, which is some sort
of a heritage structure. Close by, there are beautifully architectured
bungalows, old Churches and other interesting finds. Unfortunately, we were
short on time and had to rush back to the bazaar.

It was interesting to note that rickshaws stopped plying in
certain areas, every evening between 5-7 pm in order to give an impetus to the newly
launched state bus services. We hopped on to one of those and, I must admit, it
was a cozy ride. Announcements for the next stop were made in English, Hindi and
Gujarati (reminding me of the Mumbai local), doors were wide and seats were
new and untorn. The state bus service thus got a stamp of approval from me!

Humour ‘round every
corner

Gujjus are loved for their humour, and rightly so! Gujjus
are not afraid of their quirkiness; rather they proudly wear it on their
sleeves and flaunt it. The gujju philosophy is simple: life is short, so live,
laugh & eat to your heart’s content.

This brings us to exploring (read: bumping in to) Surat’s
street food humour…

Mention, Mansion??

RIP: Rickshaw

Presenting
Hajoori’s Kitchen

Cause Bhai
sells everything, everywhere

Bade
Miyan toh Bade Miyan, Chhote Miyan Subhan Allah

With
3 more spices, this is a major competition for 5 Spice

No
humour here, but I had to include this one, since it has become an almost extinct
feature in Mumbai…

India Post- Letter Box

Food Food

“Surat aaye aur saala sosyo nai piya, toh kya khak Surat
aaye!”

Inspired from a very uninspiring movie- Mere Brother Ki
Dulhan- the above dialogue pretty much sums up the sentiment of every Surti. Sosyo,
which is now also available in other parts of India, was once a local specialty.
To quote Wikipedia, “Mohsin Hajoori introduced
Sosyo in 1927 inSurat, as an Indian option to the
UK drinkVimto”.

Cheers
to Sosyo and Sip!

Surat is also famous for its nashta
(snacks), which include sev khamani, khaman, locho, khandvi, dhokla, patra,
etc. We were fortunate to taste an assortment of all these for breakfast,
organized by the wedding host family.

Towards the end of our trip,
honestly, right before we entered Surat station to depart, we tasted the
American thick shakes of Bismillah hotel. Now, we had heard a great review of
the food and the shakes from my cousin, who was also a wedding invitee. Following his
recommendation, my parents and I decided to give Bismillah a shot.. umm..a
shake.

Bismillah, located right opposite
the station, turned out to be a relatively large space, with a section for
restaurant, another section for juices and the final section for miscellaneous
stuff like thick shake, falooda, ice cream and coco.

We
ordered the shakes of our choice (you’re really not interested in the flavours
we picked) and surely each one of those lived up to our expectation. The shakes were so
thick that we thought it best to discard the fat straws, and instead chose (wisely) to drink
straight from the glass.

Long story short

Surat welcomed me with open arms
and I ran straight into them. After this eventful trip, I don’t feel the need to pick Mumbai over Surat
or Surat over Mumbai. I pick both- for their craziness, social ‘life’, people,
pace. They’re both different, but they’re both fun!

To conclude (and while I could have found
something more apt), I choose the below image: